Card and envelope feeding apparatus



Jan. 8, 1935. H, p ELLIOTT 1,986,800

CARD AND ENVELOPE FEEDING APPARATUS Filed May 12, 1933 INVENTOR HarmonEllioll ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 8, 1935 UNITED STATES CARD AND ENVELOPEAPPARATUS PATENT OFFICE FEEDING Harmon P. Elliott, Watcrtown, Mesa,assignor to The Elliott Addressing Machine Companyta corporation ofMassachusetts Application May 12, 1933, Serial No. 670,644

14 Claims.

' This invention comprises certain improvements in the general type ofapparatus shown and described in my Patent No. 1,909,910, dated May 16,1933, for Addressing and printing apparatus,

and relates more specifically to improvements on I rotary drum locatedbeneath said magazine provided with suitable even curved surface, partof which has been roughened to produce a fl'iO? tional contact with thebottom card or envelope, and a set of spring plates forming a gate atthe lower wall of the wall of the magazine under which the cards orenvelopes have to be forced. This general arrangement has proved ratherdelicate of adjustment and not always satisfactory in operation. Also,the friction contact of the drum with the card or envelope sometimesdoes not continue through a sufllcient arc of travel to insure the frontend of the card or envelope being projected far enough into the printingzone to make certain that it will be securely grasped by the printingmechanism.

In the present invention these difficulties have been overcome byproviding the feed drum with raised portions extending part way aroundthe cylindrical surface thereof and in substantial contact with thelower edge of the gate, the cutaway sections between said raisedportions being sufficient in depth to permit a card or envelope lyingtherein to pass under the gate, which makes it possible to use a solidplate for said gate and adjust it permanently for cards or envelopes ofgiven thicknesses.

Also, such feeding drum according to the pres-- ent invention isprovided with spring fingers projecting from its surface at points nearthe rear end of the frictional section thereof, which said fingers willflex downward while passing under the gate, or any other rigid portionof the apto me embodying my invention are illustrated in theaccompanying sheet of drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a vertical sectiontaken through one end of a postcard and envelope printing apparatus suchas described in my above mentioned Patent No. 1,909,910, to which oneform of my present invention has been applied.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the improved form of feed drum employedin said invention.

Fig. 3 is a detail section on an enlarged scale through the said drumand adjacent end of the Fig. 7 is a detail side view or a portion of thedrum showing said modified form of finger mounted thereon.

Throughout the drawing like reference characters indicate like parts. 51represents a portion of the main frame supported on legs, one

of which is shown at 52, and having the table surface 66, which is cutaway to permit a portion of the feeddrum 23 to project upwardly abovethe plane of the table a slight distance.

The drum 23 is mounted on a revoluble shaft 54 journalled in the mainframe 51 and is rotated by any suitable means, not shown. 7

24 indicates generally the magazine in which is placed a stack ofenvelopes or postcards 21,-

which are to be printed, the lefthand edge of the bottom card orenvelope resting on said drum 23, while the right hand or rear edge issupported in any convenient way, as by the bent wire frame 53.. Thefront wall of the magazine 24 is shown at 122 and on the lower. endthereof is mounted the gate 124, the purpose of which is to prevent morethan one card or envelope at a the feed drum 23 and pushed forwardunderthe pressure roller 132 into the guides 22 which lead to the printingzone. 50 represents generallya magazine for a stack of card stencils(notshown) which may be simultaneously fed forward to the printing zoneone by one as described in my said above mentioned patent.

In the particular construction here shown the cylindrical surface ofthedrum 23 is provided 45 time being pulled off the bottom of the stack bywith a central band 1 having a thickness such that when the gate 124 isproperly adjusted only edge of the gate 124, if the latter is wideenough,

or such that their outer surfaces will be substa'ntially tangent to theplane of said gate edge if they are spaced apart widely enough to avoidcontact with said gate. Said flanges 2, 2, are

I cut away along a portion of the drum surface approximately equal tothe length of the postcard or envelope being fed, so that such postcardor envelope may fit in to the cutaway space 14 so formed between theraised portions of the drum surface formed by the flanges 2, 2.Consequently such postcard or envelope resting in this cutaway sectionmay be slid under the gate 124 if the drumhas suillcient frictionalaction on said card or envelope to pull it out from under the rest ofthe stack. To insure sufficient frictional action of this charactertapes 35, 35, of relatively soft and elastic composition, such asrubber, are fastened to the surface of the drum 23 in the cutawayportion 14 and preferably in line with the flanges 2, 2. As shown, theedges of the drum are provided with slots 13, 13, and the tapes 35, 35,have thickened ends 12, 12, so that when the' thinner portions adjacentthe tape ends are stretched and slipped into the slots 13, 13, thecontraction of the elastic tape will cause the thickened ends 12, 12, tobecome wedged in said slot and hold the tapes in the position shown,said tapes being nearly equal in length to the length of the cutawaysections 14, 14, of the side flanges 2, 2, and having to be stretchedbefore being mounted on the drum as above described.

The tapes 35, 35, are preferably made of a thickness about equal to thatof the central band 1 so that a card or envelope grasped by them can bepushed under the gate 124, and preferably the upper surfaces of thesetapes are serrated or otherwise roughened as best shown in Fig. 2. 1

In operation of the above described apparatus, when the drum is rotatedin the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1, the contact of the raised ribportions 2, 2, of the drum with the gate 124, or their elevation in casethey are on either side of the gate, will hold up the 'stack ofpostcards 21 in magazine 24 in a position such that the bottom cardcannot be slid under the gate until the cutaway portions 14, 14, of saidribs come under the gate, whereupon the front edges of the stack ofpostcardswill drop so that that of the bottom card will be opposite thespace between the drum and the lower edge of the gate 124, and thereuponthe frictional action of the tapes 35 will slide said bottom postcardunder the gate, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. After the bottom postcard hasbeen pushed under the gate the raised portions of the ribs 2, 2, willthereafter prevent other cards dropping down to positions such that theycan pass under the'gate, and this condition will continue until the drumhas made a complete revolution and the above described operation isrepeated.

- To further facilitate the co-action of the drum and gate I pre fer tohave the axis of the drum offset slightly to the left of the plane ofthe gate, asshown in Fig. 1, and to have the surface of the lower end ofthe gate backed off slightly as shown in Fig. 3, so that it willpractically lie in a plane substantially parallel to a plane tangent tothe surface of the drum atthat point.

139 indicates the usual weight sliding vertically on the magazine wall122 and provided with a spring clip 138 for holding it in elevatedposition.

When not held in this elevated position it rests on the forward edge ofthe stack of postcards and serves to insure the bottom postcard beingheld down in contact with the rotating drum. Preferably the width ofthis weight in a direction parallel with the axis of the drum should beconsiderably less than the distance between the two drum flanges or ribs2, 2, as otherwise there would be a tendency for this weight to causethe outer side edges of the last few envelopes in the stack to tiltupward so far as to prevent the bottom one from being fed under thegate.

In the operation, as above described, the cards or envelopes in themagazine 24 are successively pulled out of the magazine and fed forwardunder the pressure roller 132 into the guides 22, and, so long as thecard is in contact with roller 132, the frictional feeding action of thedrum continues. Thereafter, however, the momentum of the card alonetends to push it forward, and as this in certain casesmay beinsufiicient topush it far enough into the printing zone, I provide thedrum in the present invention with flexible wire fingers 4, 4, orpivoted fingers 7, '7, which are located near the rear ends of thefriction tapes 35, 35, and will continue to engage the card and orce itforward after it has left the roller 132, as shown in Fig. 5.

The wire fingers 4, 4, may be mounted on little grooved shoes 3, 3,which can be slipped under the rear portions of the elastic tapes 35,35, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5.

The pivoted fingers '7, 7, are mounted on a shaft 6, which is journalledin a crank member 5, which may be mounted on the drum shaft 54 by anyconvenient means such as the clamping plate 9 pivoted to member 5 at andengaging the setscrew 11' at its other end. The spiral spring 8 isanchored at one end in the member 5 and at its other end in the crank 6,thus serving to yieldingly maintain the fingers 7, 7, in the positionsshown in Figs. 6 and '7, such that they will project away from drum 33normally but can be bent downward when engaging the gate. 124 or thetable 66, or other rigid portion of the main frame. When in the positionshown, the fingers 7 operate in the same way as described with referenceto the wire fingers 4, 4, to give the postcard or envelope thesupplemental push after the frictional feeding action of the drum hasceased.

Among the advantages of the invention may be mentioned the simplicity ofthe gate construction and the certainty of card or envelope feedingaction by the cutaway feed drum cooperating therewith, and thesupplemental feeding action of the spring fingers on the drum whichinsure even short cards or envelopes being pushed into the printingzone.

Various changes in the details of construction shown and described couldbe made without departing substantially from the principles of operationof my invention'and the character of results obtained thereby.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a printing apparatus comprising a magazine for holding a stack ofenvelopes, cards, or similar articles, to be printed, and a revolubledrum for feeding them one by one out of the bottom of said magazineunder a gate and toward a printing zone, the combination, with suchgate,

of raised sections of the circumferential face of.

' which said raised surface portions are moving under such gate, no cardcan be fed out by it, but, when said cutaway surface portion comes underthe magazine the bottom article therein may drop into said cutaway spaceand be shoved under such gate by further rotation of such drum.

2. A combination such as defined in claim 1 in which the axis of suchdrum is offset to one side of a plane in which such gate lies, and thegate comprises a solid plate having its edge adjacent the drum backedoil so that the edge surface thereof shall be substantially parallel toa tangent to the drum surface at that point.

3. A-structure such as defined in 'claim 1 in which said raised drumsurface portions consist of circumferentially extending side flangesthereon, combined with a circumferential band extending around such drumbetween said flanges and having its outer surface spaced away from suchgate a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the articlebeing fed from the magazine.

4. A structure such as defined in claim 1 in which said raised drumsurface portions consist of circumferentially extending side flangesthereon, combined with a strip of yielding material extendingcircumferentially along nearly the entire length of said cutaway portionof such drum surface, and having a thickness less than that of said sideflanges.

5. A structure such as defined in claim 1 in which said raised drumsurface portions consist of circumferentially extending side flangesthere- .on, combined with two strips of yielding material extendingcircumferentially along nearly the entire length of said cutaway portionof such drum surface, and each. having a thickness less than that ofsaid side flanges, one of said strips being in line with each of saidside ribs.

6. A structure such as defined in claim 1 combined with a weight freelymovable in vertical guides along such gate and resting on such cards orenvelopes.

7. A structure such as defined in claim 1 combined with a weight freelymovable in vertical guides along such gate and resting on such cards orenvelopes, said weight having a width transversely of said raisedsections considerably less than the distance separating the latter onefrom the other.

8. A revoluble drum for feeding cards or envelopes successively out ofthe bottom of a magazine, comprising a cylindrical surface portionhaving slots in its edges and a tape of relatively elastic rubbercomposition of a length approximately equal to but normally less thanthe distance between said slots, having their extreme end portionsintegral with the body thereof, but thicker than the width of said slotsand the sections adjacent said ends being of a thickness such that saidsections can be slid into said slots when the body of the tape isslightly stretched; whereby, when said tape 'ends are confined in saidslots the rest of the tape will be under tension upon the drum surfacebetween said slots.

9. A combination, such as defined in claim 8 in which the outer one ofsaid tape surfaces is serrated.

10. The combination with a revoluble feed drum for feeding cards orenvelopes from the bottom of a stack in a magazine, of an elastic tapeextending circumferentially along a portion of such drum surface andfastened thereto at its ends, and a shoe fitting under said tape andprovided at one end with spring fingers, the free ends of which projectaway from said drum surface when said shoe is in position under saidtape.

11. In an apparatus for feeding a succession of cards or envelopes outof a magazine from the bottom of a stack therein, comprising a revolubledrum located beneath such magazine and having a section of its surfaceformed to frictionally engage any card or envelope pressed down on it,together with guides for such cards after they have been pulled out ofthe magazine by such drum, the combination, with said above describedapparatus, of a plurality of spring fingers mounted on said drumadjacent the rear end of said friction section of its surface andprojecting outwardly therefrom; whereby said fingers may engage the rearends of such cards or envelopes,

after they have been pulled out of such magain positions substantiallyradial of said drum.

13. A combination such as defined in claim 11 in which said fingers areadjustable circumferentially of said drum.

14. A combination such as defined in claim 1 in which said gate consistsof a single solid plate.

HARMON P. ELLIO'I'I'.

